Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—M

Miller

To drown the miller. (See Drown , etc.)

To give one the miller
is to engage a person in conversation till a sufficient number of persons have gathered together to set upon the victim with stones, dirt, garbage, and all the arms which haste supplies a mob with.

(See Mill.)

More water glideth by the mill than wots the miller of
(Titus Andronicus, ii. 1). Many things are done in a house which the master and mistress never dream of.

Miller

A Joe Miller. A stale jest. John Mottley compiled a book of &facetiae; in the reign of James II., which he entitled Joe Miller's Jests, from a witty actor of farce during the time that Congreve's plays were in vogue. A stale jest is called a “Joe Miller,” implying that it is stolen from Mottley's compilation. (Joe Miller, 1684-1738.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Miller's Eye
Millennium
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